1. Field of the Invention
In a first aspect the present invention relates to an apparatus for managing an animal, comprising a stall having an entrance and an exit and provided for housing one single animal. Furthermore, the present invention in the first aspect relates to a method of automatically managing an animal in a stall.
In a second aspect, the present invention relates to an apparatus for enticing an animal to move towards a predetermined destination, comprising an animal enticing means.
In a third aspect the present invention relates to an apparatus for enticing an animal of a herd to move in a desired direction. Furthermore, the present invention in the third aspect relates to a method of enticing an animal to move in a desired direction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatic milking of cows is disclosed in EP-A-91 892. The automatic milking takes place in one or more combined feeding and milking stalls provided in a barn in which the animals are allowed to walk about freely and find their way individually to the stalls for feeding, drinking and milking. The cows are automatically identified in each stall and fed with the aid of a computer connected to the identification and feeding means used. By means of the computer, in which facts concerning each cow, when she was last milked, etc are stored, automatic milking is initiated. The stall also comprises retaining gates which are automatically closed to retain the cow during milking and opened to let the cow leave the stall.
Traditionally cows are milked twice a day. Because of high labour costs it was not interesting to increase the number of milkings per day as long as milking was performed manually. It is however recognized that milking a cow three to four times a day has proved to be of less detriment to her, since the udder is not filled to its maximum between each milking. Such a milking procedure corresponds more closely to the behaviour of the calves and therefore results in healthier cows. As a side effect, however, it is possible to increase the total milk production from one cow by 15-25%. By means of automatic milking machines it is not only possible, but would also be economically interesting to milk the cows more often than twice a day, since the labour costs are not any longer critical. In this case it is rather the high investment cost which is a limiting factor. Therefore, in order to reach a high utilization of the capacity of such automatic milking machines and in order to obtain such a high milking frequency by a reasonable number of automatic milking stations, it is necessary to rapidly get the cow into the milking station where automatic milking can take place. Moreover, once the cow has been milked she must as soon as possible leave the milking station in order to give access to another cow. Furthermore, when a cow enters the milking station it is also essential that she leaves the milking station as soon as possible, if she for the moment should not be milked. This is the case if a cow enters the milking station although she was just milked, if her udder and the teats are dirty to such an extent that she must be cleaned and dried before she can be milked, in order not to contaminate the milk.
Thus, in connection with automatic milking it is important that the cow immediately leaves the milking station after finished milking.
In the past, different proposals have been raised to this end. One is to divide the cows into groups which necessitates partitions and gates and, hence, reduces the accessible area for each individual cow. Another proposal is to force the cows to a milking station by different signals and electric fences, see e.g. EP-A-582 350, EP-A-566 201, EP-A-567 191 or EP-A-189 954. DE-A-4 134 163 proposes to force the animals by means of pressurized air. It has also been proposed to drive the animals to a desired area by means of movable gates of different types. However, animals are sensitive living beings and in most cases react very negatively to forces of any kind.
DE-C-3 702 465 discloses a system for automatic milking and feeding of cows, whereby the cows, when finding their way to a feeding stall, are forced to pass an identifying device. Thereafter the cows are led to a milking stall for automatic milking or alternatively to a feeding station having no milking machine.
EP-A-617 887 discloses a construction for milking animals, comprising a milking box, one or more milking robots and a control room. From the exit of the milking box, the animal may enter an area in which a sufficient quantity of fodder is available.
There is no means proposed to remind the animal in an active manner that she is to leave the milking box after milking.